This invention relates to a novel class of compounds which exhibit analgesic activity.
Recently, endogenous substances having morphine-like properties have been extracted from mammalian brain or csf. These substances, named enkephalins, have been identified by Hughes et al., Nature, 258, 577 (1975) as pentapeptides having the following sequences: EQU H-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met-OH EQU H-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu-OH.
These compounds are referred to as methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin, respectively.
Although methionine and leucine enkephalin have been shown to exhibit analgesic activity in mice upon administration intracerebroventricularly [Buscher et al., Nature, 261, 423 (1976)], they are practically devoid of any useful analgesic activity when administered parenterally.
Therefore, since the discovery of the enkephalins, much effort has been devoted to preparing analogs of the enkephalins in the hope of finding compounds having enhanced activity and practical utility due to their bioavailability by parenteral or oral administration.
Dutta et al., Life Sciences 21, pp. 559-562 (1977), report certain structure modifications which, they suggest, tend to enhance potency. They suggest activity can be enhanced by any or all of the following:
(a) substitution of Gly in position 2 by certain D- or .alpha.-aza-amino acids;
(b) conversion of the terminal carboxyl to the methyl ester or the amide; and
(c) modification of the Phe in the 4-position by .alpha.-aza substitution, N-methylation, or hydrogenation of the aromatic ring.
In addition, Roemer et al., Nature 268, pp. 547-549 (1977), suggest modification of the Met.sup.5 to its corresponding carbinol and oxidation of the Met sulfur to the sulfoxide as useful modifications.
Another structural modification of significance is that reported in Belgian Pat. No. 859,026. This publication suggests enhancement of activity and bioavailability of enkephalin analogs by insertion of a D-amino acid residue in position 2, conversion of the terminal carboxyl to an amide, and N-alkylation of the amino acid residue in position 5.
Coy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,501, describe compounds comprising two D-amino acid.sup.2 -enkephalins or two tetrapeptides having the first four amino acid residues of a D-amino acid.sup.2 -enkephalin joined at their carboxyl termini through the two amino functions of lysine.
A class of enkephalin analogs having a high level of analgesic activity has now been discovered. These analogs comprise two pentapeptides or tetrapeptide amides joined by --CH.sub.2 --.sub.n.